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Monday, December 17, 2012

Second Amendment Collateral Damage

I have not done much since Friday and
its terrible news. Sometimes things that happen seem sadder and deeper
than humanity should have to bear. I never watch television and get
most of my news from internet news sites and every time I open a page
and see those sweet little faces I just want to cry. Like everyone
else I want to know how could this happen? But it is happening every
day.

Naturally, this tragedy has spawned
hundreds of insipid graphics with pithy, facile slogans that are
littering Facebook and being spread far and wide. These mindless
images blame the massacre at Sandy Hook on the absence of school
prayer. They ignore the massacres that have taken place in churches,
not to mention the molestation. They also proclaim that guns are not
the problem. This makes me want to scream.

I grew up in hunting country in
Pennsylvania. All the men I knew hunted as did many of the women. I
grew up in a house full of guns and we often entertained ourselves by
shooting targets mounted over the coal bin in my Dad's shop. I've
helped with processing deer that my Dad and brothers killed and I've
shoot hand guns and rifles. I do not have a problem in the world with
hunting rifles. Assault weapons are another matter. High-capacity
clips are another matter. Deer and bears and rabbits do no wear
kevlar vests. High-capacity clips exist for one reason and one reason
only, to shoot a lot of bullets in a short period of time. What
civilian needs to do that?

In 1994 the Federal Assault Weapons Ban
was instituted. It only affected the manufacturers, not private
citizens. It expired in 2004 and was not renewed. We need to revisit
this. I'm so tired of the lame, mindless excuses by people who say
that banning assault weapons is “just the beginning” and “the
government will take our guns away.” Where are their brains????

We are such a fear-driven society!
During the last election I made a point of trying to get people to
talk to me about why they “hated” Obama and I was continually
astonished by the lack of knowledge they had about his record as
President. They spewed ridiculous “opinions” that had no basis in
fact. And they had absolutely no interest in learning the facts. They
had their opinions and they were sticking to them regardless of how
lacking in intelligence they were. Now I'm seeing the same thing
about a mass murder. They say guns are not the problem, lack of
prayer is the problem. Two weeks ago a woman was shot in the back
while she was playing the organ in her church on a Sunday morning.
But that was different – or so I am told when I point that out.

I am so sad. I am sad about the loss of
those sweet little children and the women who tried to save them. But
I am equally sad about the stupid, stupid, stupid slogans and pithy
signs being passed around excusing the unjustifiable. We are a very
stupid society. Not all of us but a lot of us.

When Barack Obama was reelected there
was a ripple of absolute shock among people who believed such a thing
could not happen. Even now many of them are saying, “How could this
happen?” Now, many of those same people are saying, “Guns are not
the problem.” It is true that all guns are not the problem but some
kinds of guns are. It is my fervent hope that the people who are
still reeling over the changed electorate that reelected our
President will be equally stunned when the evolved electorate changes
laws concerning access to assault weapons and high-capacity clips. We
have to change. These beautiful children are not Second Amendment
collateral damage. It is time for us to grow up. Some losses are too
great to bear.

1 comment:

Kathleen, thanks for your very astute blog post and for important facts some of us have forgotten. We are all so raw just now, but hopefully people will read your posting more than once. I definitely will.

Gun reforms are imperative now. I believe Obama will strive to make it happen. Or else we will continue to be known as a Nation of Violence. We will slowly self-destruct.

St. Marystown Saga

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